Mana's Dillema
by Azurknight
Summary: The sequel to Mana's Bond other short story of Mana and Shido bonding as siblings.


Mana's Dilemma

It is summer in Tengu city, and Mana Takamiya is out and about with her older brother, Shido. She is enjoying another day with him at the arcade. She proves she has rather impressive skills at the rail shooter zombie game and achieves the high score with ease. Shido is impressed with her skill and compliments her.

"Wow, that was really good, Mana. Here I thought that you were better with swords or something."

Mana has a calm smile and happily responds.

"Well, it's nothing compared to real fighting, so I guess being good at game shouldn't be a surprise to me."

Shido decides to reward his little sister by winning her a prize from the crane game while she goes to use the bathroom. He tries for a stuffed bear, but he can't get it. He attempts it a few more times, but still can't get it. Mana, upon exiting the restroom, notices her brother failing at the game, and walks over to give him a hand. She manages to get the bear on her first try without Shido ever having to tell her what he was getting it for her. She hands Shido the bear and sarcastically quips.

"Well, I guess this is for my date, hehe."

Shido laughs with his sister and then he says.

"Well, I was planning on getting it for you, but I guess you've made a happy fellow."

Shido sees the time and notices that it is getting closer to late noon, and tells Mana.

"I think we need to get to the diner, or else Kotori is going to get mad at us."

Shido and Mana are supposed to meet Kotori at Danny's for dinner. Some other times, Kotori goes with the both of them and Shido still spends days with just her. Mana and her brother make their way to the Danny's to meet with Kotori to have a fun dinner.

At the diner, Shido, Mana, and Kotori order their food and have a delightful conversation. However, once they start eating, Shido sees someone outside the dinner, with her mischievous grin, Kurumi. She is looking at him. While he is enjoying his time with his sisters, Shido goes outside to see Kurumi. Mana wonders why he left so suddenly and follows him outside. Once Shido gets outside, Kurumi has disappeared. Mana looks at him with a slightly worried look and asks.

"What's wrong, big brother?"

Shido decides not to tell Mana about Kurumi since he knows how much Mana doesn't like her. He lies and says.

"I thought I saw a naked lady."

Mana blushes and retorts, flustered.

"Big brother, don't tell me that you're one of THOSE guys."

Shido scratches the back of his head and responds.

"Well…I am a guy, Mana."

The two siblings re enter the diner to resume their dinner. They enjoy the rest of the evening just the three of them. Once they finish dinner, Mana leaves for her home, and Shido tells Kotori about what he actually saw. Kotori comments on his decision rather straight.

"Good call, Shido. It's better if Mana doesn't know that Kurumi might be back."

Shido doesn't like lying to his sister, but Mana will most likely attack Kurumi again if she knows that she's back. On her way home, Mana actually realizes that Shido was lying to her.

" _So Shido doesn't want to get me involved. But I might if I see "her" again."_

Mana continues her walk and wonders what to do next if Shido sees Kurumi again.

The next day

Mana is at her home staring at the photo that she and Shido took a little while ago. She is pondering something that Shido told a while back. It was back when Shido first saw Mana killing a Kurumi clone in person in the woods. She wonders about just giving killing spirits all together. The only one she can recall doing any true damage lately is Kurumi. Plus Shido is fixated at saving her, and while she cares about what happens to him, she's also worried he may not be able to look at her is she kills Kurumi. This causes to do a lot of thinking.

At the Itsuka residence, Shido is talking with Kotori about the situation. He is actually more worried for Mana. He expresses this to Kotori.

"If she fights with Kurumi again, I don't know if Mana will survive it."

Kotori agrees with Shido.

"Yeah, last time, she only got out of there because I showed in time."

Shido knows that Mana is strong, but Kurumi dangerous. He figures that he needs to seek her out and find a way to seal her powers before anyone else can get hurt. He also considers trying to get Mana to not do anything about Kurumi. He decides to try the latter first since Kurumi is going to be harder to find, and Mana may listen to him at this point. He calls Mana and invites her over for dinner tonight. She agrees to do so; Kotori decides that she'll leave so that Shido can privately talk with Mana about the situation. Rather, she'll monitor Mana's mood aboard the Fraxinus to help her brother out.

Mana is having stirred thoughts, but doesn't want to let them prevent her from spending time with her brother.

Later in the day, Mana arrives at her brother's place and has even brought a pint of ice cream with her for dessert. Shido has prepared a simple dinner of curry and rice for him and his sister. When Mana sits down to eat, she wonders where Kotori is, and Shido answers.

"She, uh, went with some of classmates to study for a test they have."

Mana then gets serious as she bluntly says.

"Your lies are really bad, you know."

Shido gets two plates prepared as he drops his act and get serious himself as he sits down to eat with her.

"Yeah, they are, aren't they? She left to give us privacy because I wanted to talk with you about something important."

The tension is getting thicker as the two are more aware about their feelings on the situation. Shido bluntly says.

"Mana, I want you to give up trying to kill Kurumi."

Mana is also blunt when she responds.

"No."

Shido is getting more serious as asks.

"Why not?"

Mana also gets serious.

"Because, she's dangerous, and I can't let her go around killing people. So, if I see her again, I'll attack her."

Shido stands up and shouts.

"She'll kill YOU, not the other way around! Mana, you can't beat her."

Mana is stunned that Shido admits that he's more concerned with her getting killed, but is a little touched, but she still responds.

"Shido… you can't trust her. She's beyond saving, and I won't stop no matter what."

Shido pounds his fist against the table and says.

"I can get her to stop, I know I can, but I won't let get you hurt. Kotori won't be able to step in like before."

Mana then just gets upset.

"Why do you care so much about what happens those destructive monsters!?"

Mana then catches herself and pulls back because Shido appears to be angry, but his expression says otherwise. He calmly tells her.

"Because, they are people like us. They show up, and get attacked, so they defend themselves from harm. What's wrong with that? They cause destruction with spacial quakes, but they don't mean too."

Mana then gets apologetic.

"I'm sorry, big brother."

Shido remains calm as he explains.

"Mana, I don't want any to get hurt. Not you, Kotori, or anyone else. I'm doing my best, and I don't want to worry for you. So please, just let it go, and let me handle it. I'm you're big brother, I'm the one who should be protecting you."

Mana counters more weakly.

"But, I'm stronger than you. We both know that."

Shido shakes his head.

"That doesn't matter. Big brothers are born first to protect their little brothers and sisters, and I want you to be around for us to have more days like yesterday and that day two months ago."

Mana then looks at the table with a slightly depressed look.

"Big brother…I understand."

Mana looks back up and she can see out of a window and sees Kurumi with a more sadistic grin. She shakes her head out of shock, and when she opens her eyes, Kurumi is gone. Although she says that she'll back off, Mana still needs more time to figure out what she truly wants to do. However, until she truly decides, she'll just spend time with her brother without any violence or harsh words. So she takes the first bite of her dinner and comments, happily.

"It's cold."

Their conversation took long enough that the food got cold, so Shido puts the food in the microwave and reheats, and then they'll eat ice cream to finish off their family dinner. But before Mana finishes, Shido hands her a present, and says.

"Here, I got this for you."

Mana takes it and asks.

"Why?"

Shido simply smiles and says.

"Just because."

Mana opens the present, and inside is a stuffed rabbit. Mana doesn't ask why, she just hugs and restates the obvious.

"I love so much, Big Brother!"

Shido smiles since his sister is really happy at what he's got her. He has no doubts that she'll make the right choice in the end.


End file.
